6/24/2020 Does ozone sterilization kill the Coronavirus which causes COVID-19? | Aeroqual

https://www.aeroqual.com/does-ozone-kill-coronavirus-covid-19 1/5

Does ozone sterilization kill the Coronaviruswhich causes COVID-19?

Published: Last Updated: Jun 11, 2020 Craig Loynes (https://www.aeroqual.com/author/craig)

Mar 26, 2020 (https://www.aeroqual.com/2020/03/26)📅No medical event in recent history has made abigger impact on global health and the economy, than Coronavirus, and the COVID-19 disease(https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019).

At the time of writing, most major economies are entering into some form of lockdown, causingsigni�cant disruption to businesses and drastically changing the way we live our lives for the next few months. 

Governments, Industry and Citizens are united in trying to slow the spread of COVID-19, to give healthservices time to prepare for the explosion in the demand for care. Sanitizing our homes, workplaces and publicspaces is a key tactic in the �ght against Coronavirus, to stop the spread of COVID-19. One method ofsterilization is by using ozone. Ozone sterilization is commonly used in hospitals to sanitize equipment(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196655304001415) and signi�cantly reduce or eliminatethe spread of bacteria (https://www.jstor.org/stable/26327632?seq=1). Hence the question being asked is – “Canozone sterilization kill the Coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease?” 

6/24/2020 Does ozone sterilization kill the Coronavirus which causes COVID-19? | Aeroqual

https://www.aeroqual.com/does-ozone-kill-coronavirus-covid-19 2/5

This blog post looks at the evidence and highlights the bene�ts of sterilizing environments with ozone, as well asit’s associated risks. 

OZONE STERILIZATION PROVEN TO KILL SARS-COV VIRUS 

There are currently no examples in the public domain, of ozone sterilization being used to kill the current strain ofCoronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (technical name of the Coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease). However, thereare reasons to believe it would be effective: 

During the SARS epidemic of 2003, ozone sterilization was successfully used(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312702/) to purify environments infected with the deadlyCoronavirus, SARS-CoV-1, the virus which causes the SARS disease.  As SARS-Cov-1 (https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/sars/en/) is also a member of the Coronavirus family, it ishighly likely that ozone sterilization would be effective at killing SARS-CoV-2, the Coronavirus which causesthe COVID-19 disease. 

HOW DOES OZONE STERILIZATION KILL CORONAVIRUSES? 

Coronaviruses are classi�ed as “enveloped viruses”, which are typically more susceptible to “Physico-chemical challenges”. In other words, they don’t like being exposed to ozone.   

Ozone destroys this type of virus by breaking through the outer shell into the core, resulting in damage to the viralRNA. Ozone can also damage the outer shell of the virus in a process called oxidation. 

Put simply, exposing Coronaviruses to suf�cient ozone dose (ppm x time) can result in them being 99% damagedor destroyed.

TESTS CONCLUDE OZONE CAN KILL CORONAVIRUS 

Aeroqual partner with a number of manufacturers who produce ozone sterilization equipment. JIMCO(https://jimco.dk/), one of these partners and the makers of the FLO-D MINI – Mark 2(https://jimco.dk/CustomerData/Files/Folders/8-brochurer/2391_corona-virus-�o-d-18-05.pdf), have had thisproduct tested, which con�rmed its effectiveness at killing the coronavirus (https://www.aeroqual.com/wp-content/uploads/JIMCO-FLO-D-mini-Mark-2-test.pdf). Dr. Brill + Dr. Steinmann from the Institute for Hygiene andMicrobiology conducted this test on 5/19/2010. Here is what they found – “The conclusion can be drawn that afterpassing examinations with MVA [in Europe, MVA represents the of�cial model virus for all enveloped viruses] anactivity against all enveloped viruses including members of the virus family coronaviridae (like MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2) is achieved”.

The ozone sterilization process is simple. Firstly, vacate the environment to be sterilized, roll in an ozonesterilization product, set it to add the appropriate quantity of ozone to the environment. After which it is vital thatyou monitor when it is safe to re-enter the space. 

WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF OZONE STERILIZATION? 

6/24/2020 Does ozone sterilization kill the Coronavirus which causes COVID-19? | Aeroqual

https://www.aeroqual.com/does-ozone-kill-coronavirus-covid-19 3/5

Breathing even small amounts of ozone can be harmful. Symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, andaggravation of lung diseases like asthma. At higher concentrations you can smell ozone, but it becomes harmfuleven at lower doses. For that reason, many countries have set an 8-hour exposure limit of 70 ppb (parts per billion)ozone. In the EU the limit is set even lower. Ozone is one of six common pollutants limited by the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agenc (https://www.epa.gov/)y and other country’s Environmental regulators. Exposureto ozone in the workplace is controlled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration(https://www.osha.gov/) and their counterparts around the world.  

(HTTPS://WWW.AEROQUAL.COM/OZONE-METERS-AND-SENSORS)REDUCE THE RISK OF OZONE EXPOSURE BYMONITORING 

The problem is that the equipment for measuring ozone is either a)accurate but too expensive, or b) affordable but not accurate. This iswhy Aeroqual came up with option c) monitors that are bothaccurate and affordable (https://www.aeroqual.com/ozone-meters-and-sensors). 

Please get in touch (https://www.aeroqual.com/contact) if you haveany further questions on monitoring ozone. 

 中文 Chinese version(https://www.instrument.com.cn/netshow/SH104262/news_537508.htm)

(https://www.aeroqual.com/author/craig)

Craig Loynes(https://www.aeroqual.com/author/craig)Craig is the Head of MarketingCommunications at Aeroqual. He hasmany years experience in raising thepro�le of environmental standards.Craig now helps Aeroqual

communicate their efforts in innovating environmental monitoring to improve air quality worldwide.

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigloynes)

BLOG CATEGORIES

Latest News (https://www.aeroqual.com/category/latest-news)

Outdoor (https://www.aeroqual.com/category/outdoor)

Indoor (https://www.aeroqual.com/category/indoor)

Ozone (https://www.aeroqual.com/category/ozone)

Company (https://www.aeroqual.com/category/company)

→

→

→

→

→

6/24/2020 Does ozone sterilization kill the Coronavirus which causes COVID-19? | Aeroqual

https://www.aeroqual.com/does-ozone-kill-coronavirus-covid-19 4/5

Select Month

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

SUBMIT

VOC (https://www.aeroqual.com/category/voc)

ARCHIVES

SUBSCRIBE TO BE NOTIFIED OF NEW BLOGS

SOCIAL MEDIA (https://www.linkedin.com/company/aeroqual-

ltd)

(https://www.facebook.com/Aeroqual) (https://twitter.com/aeroqual) (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4eyICTCnaiBipTjbAvIyWw)

SUPPORT

Customer Service and Support (https://www.aeroqual.com/support)

Frequently Asked Questions (https://www.aeroqual.com/support/faqs)

How to Buy (https://www.aeroqual.com/support/how-to-buy)

Product Resources (https://www.aeroqual.com/support/resources)

PRODUCTS

Outdoor Products (https://www.aeroqual.com/outdoor-air-quality-monitors)

Indoor Products (https://www.aeroqual.com/indoor-air-quality-monitors)

→

→

→

→

→

→

→

6/24/2020 Does ozone sterilization kill the Coronavirus which causes COVID-19? | Aeroqual

https://www.aeroqual.com/does-ozone-kill-coronavirus-covid-19 5/5

Ozone Products (https://www.aeroqual.com/ozone-meters-and-sensors)

(https://www.aeroqual.com/us-epa-and-aeroqual-will-work-together)

About (https://www.aeroqual.com/company) | Sitemap (https://www.aeroqual.com/sitemap) |Privacy (https://www.aeroqual.com/support/privacy-policy)

© Copyright Aeroqual 2020

Aeroqual Limited460 Rosebank RoadAvondaleAuckland 1026New Zealand

Phone: +64 9 623 3013US Toll Free: +1800 701 5032Email us » (/contact-us)

CONTACT US

→